Week 1: 7 1/2 Habits

OK, so I'm doing this just a teeniny bit late (and out of sequence). But they did say that this course was self-paced!

Which leads to what is probably my biggest weakness, re: 7 1/2 Habits of Highly Successful Lifelong Learners: Habit 1, Begin with the End in Mind. Or, more precisely, developing the steps towards that goal. I don't usually have a problem with articulating a goal for myself, whether it's teaching myself to knit, learning to grow roses, finding a job, or getting a new degree.

But implementing that goal in a systematic fashion is another thing. I've always been one of those people who, upon acquiring a new piece of mechanical equipment or that DIY furniture that students specialize in, start trying to assemble the item after just a cursory glance through the directions. Sometimes this works. Other times, you find out halfway through the process that you've installed the cabinet door upside down, and you end up having to backtrack. Needless to say, this is aggravating (even more so because you don't have anyone to blame but yourself) and a time-waster. (On the other hand, I suppose it helps you develop Habit 3, View Problems as Challenges.) I'm not a very methodical thinker.

My strong point in learning? I guess that would be Habit 5, Create Your Own Learning Toolbox. I may not go about it in an orderly, calendar-based fashion, but once I get really interested in something and set out to learn more about it, I'll track down information from all the sources I can think of. My home PC probably has hundreds of sites bookmarked (divided and further subdivided by subcategories and sub-subcategories; I am a librarian, after all) culled after hours of searching on topics I've gotten interested in. I have small reference collections in my bookcase for those same topics. If something really captures my interest, I'll happily spend hours doing research; and I'm always on the lookout for more resources.

Week 2: Blogging

This is actually not my first try at blogging. I had a blog for about five minutes a few years ago. This was back when they were trendy (before MySpace became a household word, and now even MySpace is becoming a bit passe--though you'd never know it by watching the patrons where I work), but I lead a very quiet life, and I ended up deleting it because I was boring even myself.

Why "Velvet Elvis"? Well, for some reason I really, really wanted a velvet Elvis painting when I was a little girl. That, and a wooden duck decoy, and a rubber chicken. (Don't ask why. I have no idea.) I got over the rubber-chicken and duck-decoy yearnings, but I still have a soft spot for Elvis, especially in his tackier manifestations. I probably wouldn't turn down a velvet Elvis if someone offered me one now. How could you fail to appreciate someone who introduced the world to something as deliriously over-the-top as the Fool's Gold sandwich?